Online Anthology

The CASP Online Anthology presents a selection of
rare plays and other heritage literary materials in a PDF format that
can be searched, printed, and used for teaching and research purposes.
Each text includes a short introduction and links to the CASP
Database records and related multimedia within the website. Because
the anthology is online instead of on paper, it is constantly being
added to and updated. At the launch of CASP Version 1 (April 22, 2004), over thirty-five texts
in their entirety had been uploaded to the site, that number representing
only a small portion of the over 500 texts archived in the CASP offices. Since then CASP has continued its drive to collect and publish as many adaptations as possible, with its next major focus being French Canada. Expect to see a range of adaptations with full introductions and scripts from French Canada uploaded in the coming year.

At present, with the launch of the CASP Version 2 (August 2007), the Online Anthology consists of over 50 playscripts with associated multimedia, research hyperlinks, original introductions, database information, and so forth. CASP is always looking to expand its online archive and welcomes suggestions and input from playwrights, scholars, and students with regard to new additions to its Online Anthology.

This Online Anthology enables the publication and circulation of so-called
marginal or non-canonical works in an appropriately contextualized resource
environment, works that have had a significant (if unacknowledged) presence
in and impact on theatrical culture and literary activity in Canada.
These understudied yet remarkable examples of gaps in Canada's cultural
history suggest the extent to which the nation's cultural memory remains
to be documented and conserved. Moreover, this treasure trove of rare materials points to the significant investment Canadian cultural communities have made in re-inventing, appropriating, bastardizing, hijacking, and adapting Shakespeare to their own purposes: whether in French;, for youth and children; for and by First Nations' peoples; as commentary on Canadian politics; as commentary on the academic study of Shakespeare in Canada; and across multiple genres and in many different sites of cultural production.

We gratefully acknowledge the generosity of living playwrights who
have given CASP copyright permission for use of their materials online––many
of these published and made publicly available for the first time. Please
note that use of the materials presented on this site does not extend
to performance rights––users wishing to perform
any of the texts in the Online Anthology should seek out performance
rights where appropriate. You will require Adobe Acrobat Reader to read
these documents; visit the Adobe
website to download the Reader.

Disclaimer:This site has
been designed with only non-commercial, academic uses in mind. Although
every effort has been made to secure permission for materials uploaded
on the CASP site, in some circumstances we have been unable to locate
copyright holders. Links may be made to our site but under no conditions
are the texts and images to be copied and mounted onto another site
server. Researchers using the site should accredit it following standard
MLA guidelines on how to do so. Correct citation of information from
the site is as follows:

Fischlin, Daniel. Canadian Adaptations
of Shakespeare Project. University of Guelph. 2004.